A woman who murdered five members of a family by setting fire to her
neighbour's pushchair in an “an act of exceptional wickedness” has been
jailed for at least 30 years.

“Jealous” alcoholic Melanie Smith, 43, was consumed by hatred which she directed toward neighbour Lee-Anna Shiers when she decided to set light to her home.

999 calls reveal that Miss Shiers, 20, knew her death was imment as the fire spread and she became trapped in her upstairs flat with her four-year-old nephew, Bailey, and two-year-old niece, Skye. All three were killed in the fire in October last year.

Firefighters managed to rescue Ms Shiers's 15-month-old son Charlie and his father Liam Timbrell, 23, but they died in hospital.

Smith wept as the sentence was passed by trial judge Mr Justice Griffith-Williams. He told her: "My belief is that at that moment you were probably a very sad woman and it was the sound of Lee-Anna and Liam's love-making from the flat above that overwhelmed you.

"Bitterly resentful of their happiness, you went outside and set fire to the pushchair. It follows that you acted on impulse and so this was not a premeditated act.”

Related Articles

The judge told Smith that at first it seemed unlikely that a mother-of-five with no previous convictions could set fire to a house with people in it.

But after hearing the evidence he said he was satisfied that she was guilty.

He noted Smith was motivated by jealousy due to her faltering relationship with Stephen Clarkson, whom she accused of cheating on her.

"That hatred, which was all the more intense because of your drink problem, took over your life," the judge said.

After the sentence members of the victims’ families spoke out. Steve Allen, the father of Bailey and Skye, said that he had been looking forward to seeing them grow up.

"Instead, one despicable person has taken them away," he said. "Nothing will ever bring any of our family back to us, but Melanie Smith will now be given what she deserves. Today is the next step towards grieving for our family.

"It still doesn't feel real. Every day that goes by we wish that things had turned out differently on October 19 2012 so my babies and my nephew Charlie would still be here, happy, playing and growing.

"We wish we could hear them laughing, we think of them every day."

Stephanie Watson, Mr Timbrell's mother, fought back tears as she added: "This has been a long and painful road for all the family and one that can never bring back any of our children or grandchildren.

"In this terrible tragedy there is some comfort knowing that justice has been done, although no sentence can truly reflect the severity of the crime."

Smith was convicted last Tuesday of five counts of murder and one count of making threats of arson after the jury of seven women and five men reached 10-2 majority verdicts following 15 hours of deliberations.

She had been increasingly angry with Miss Shiers, accusing the young mother of being a noisy and untidy neighbour, her trial was told.

Witnesses said Smith had been heard complaining about Miss Shiers leaving the pram in the hallway and leaving cigarette ends around the front door area.

On the night of the fire she was drunk and started the fire "in a rage" after hearing Ms Shiers and Mr Timbrell having sex upstairs.

The court was played a harrowing 999 call in which Mr Timbrell shouted: "Oh my God, oh my God, we're going to die."

He later told rescuing paramedics that "it was arson" and "it was Mel" and said he heard her shouting through the letterbox that she was going to burn the house down.

The judge said that while her relationship with Mr Clarkson remained "uneasy" Smith "took out" her "unhappiness" on Miss Shiers. "And she became the focus of your attentions," he said.

Her resentments grew out of all proportions, and she finally snapped on the night of the fire.

Mr Justice Griffith-Williams agreed that she probably did not know all three children were upstairs, but she was “clearly indifferent” to who was in the flat.

"The setting-fire to the pushchair was an act of exceptional wickedness, almost unparalleled in its consequences.

"For those who had to hear the evidence of the 999 calls, the horror of those moments in the flat upstairs as Lee-Anna and Liam faced the awful inevitability of their imminent deaths will be forever etched on their memories.

"Understandably the knowledge of the manner of their deaths has added to the overwhelming grief of their families, all the more to those who rushed to the house in the hope they could help...

"That grief will not have been mitigated by any meaningful remorse on your part. You continue to portray yourself as a victim, blinding yourself to the sufferings of the real victims in this case and failing to at least acknowledge that it was your deliberate act which started the fire."